So it is clear that to "see" dependent origination, the 5 hindrances have to be subdued and one must be in at least first jhana. This is said in the sutta about looking through a pond, the 5 hindrances represents ripples on the surface which prevent you from looking through at the objects in the pond. As well as the sutta talking about the 11 doors to the treasure.

It also clear that you do not need to see the entire 12 links, but only the arising and passing away of one of the links as SN 35.204 shows:

"In the same way, monk, however those intelligent men of integrity were focused when their vision became well purified is the way in which they answered.

This is referring to seeing the origination and passing away of only one of the following: 5 aggregates, six media of sense contact, 4 elements, or just seeing arising and passing of any object.

So knowing that "seeing" DO requires at least:

- First jhana (no 5 hindrances)
- Arising and passing away of one of the dhammas in fourth satipathana, or perhaps just the 3 characteristics in general.

We know also that a stream winner's fruit is seeing dependent origination. The fetter of doubt and rituals is destroyed when one sees it.

So knowing his, how does one see dependent origination in Samadhi meditation?

also another tidbit: It seems that only 1 (Kondanna) of the group of 5 attained arahantship upon hearing the 4NT, but the remaining 4 attained arahantship upon hearing the 3 characteristics.

So knowing his, how does one see dependent origination in Samadhi meditation?

This sutta seems relevant,

Then Dasama the householder from Atthakanagara, on completing his business at Pataliputta, went to Ven. Ananda at Veluvagamaka near Vesali. On arrival, having bowed down to him, he sat to one side. As he was sitting there, he said to Ven. Ananda: “Venerable sir, is there a single quality declared by the Blessed One—the one who knows, the one who sees, worthy & rightly self-awakened—where the unreleased mind of a monk who dwells there heedful, ardent, & resolute becomes released, or his unended fermentations go to their total ending, or he attains the unexcelled security from the yoke that he had not attained before?”

“Yes, householder, there is…”

“And what is that one quality, venerable sir…?”

“There is the case, householder, where a monk, withdrawn from sensuality, withdrawn from unskillful qualities, enters & remains in the first jhana: rapture & pleasure born from withdrawal, accompanied by directed thought & evaluation. He reflects on this and discerns, ‘This first jhana is fabricated & intended. Now whatever is fabricated & intended is inconstant & subject to cessation.’ Staying right there, he reaches the ending of the mental fermentations. Or, if not, then—through this very Dhamma-passion, this Dhamma-delight, and from the total wasting away of the first five Fetters—he is due to be reborn [in the Pure Abodes], there to be totally unbound, never again to return from that world.

“This, householder, is a single quality declared by the Blessed One—the one who knows, the one who sees, worthy & rightly self-awakened—where the unreleased mind of a monk who dwells there heedful, ardent, & resolute becomes released, or his unended fermentations go to their total ending, or he attains the unexcelled security from the yoke that he had not attained before.

(Similarly with the second, third, and fourth jhanas.)

“Then again, a monk keeps pervading the first direction with an awareness imbued with good will, likewise the second, likewise the third, likewise the fourth. Thus above, below, & all around, everywhere, in its entirety, he keeps pervading the all-encompassing cosmos with an awareness imbued with good will—abundant, expansive, immeasurable, without hostility, without ill will. He reflects on this and discerns, ‘This awareness-release through good will is fabricated & intended. Now whatever is fabricated & intended is inconstant & subject to cessation.’ Staying right there, he reaches the ending of the mental fermentations. Or, if not, then—through this very Dhamma-passion, this Dhamma-delight, and from the total wasting away of the first five Fetters—he is due to be reborn [in the Pure Abodes], there to be totally unbound, never again to return from that world.

“This too, householder, is a single quality declared by the Blessed One—the one who knows, the one who sees, worthy & rightly self-awakened—where the unreleased mind of a monk who dwells there heedful, ardent, & resolute becomes released, or his unended fermentations go to their total ending, or he attains the unexcelled security from the yoke that he had not attained before.

(Similarly with awareness-release through compassion, through appreciation, & through equanimity.)

“Then again, a monk—with the complete transcending of perceptions of [physical] form, with the disappearance of perceptions of resistance, and not heeding perceptions of diversity, [perceiving,] ‘Infinite space’—enters & remains in the dimension of the infinitude of space. He reflects on this and discerns, ‘This attainment of the infinitude of space is fabricated & intended. Now whatever is fabricated & intended is inconstant & subject to cessation.’ Staying right there, he reaches the ending of the mental fermentations. Or, if not, then—through this very Dhamma-passion, this Dhamma-delight, and from the total wasting away of the first five Fetters—he is due to be reborn [in the Pure Abodes], there to be totally unbound, never again to return from that world.

“This too, householder, is a single quality declared by the Blessed One—the one who knows, the one who sees, worthy & rightly self-awakened—where the unreleased mind of a monk who dwells there heedful, ardent, & resolute becomes released, or his unended fermentations go to their total ending, or he attains the unexcelled security from the yoke that he had not attained before.

(Similarly with the dimension of the infinitude of consciousness and the dimension of nothingness.)

When this was said, Dasama the householder from Atthakanagara said to Ven. Ananda, “Venerable Ananda, just as if a man seeking a single opening onto treasure were all at once to come upon eleven openings onto treasure, in the same way I—seeking a single doorway to the Deathless—have all at once come to hear of eleven doorways to the Deathless. And just as if a man whose house had eleven doors could take himself to safety by means of any one of those doors, in the same way I can take myself to safety by means of any one of these eleven doors to the Deathless. Venerable sir, when sectarians search for a teacher’s fee for their teachers, why shouldn’t I pay homage to Ven. Ananda?”

It reminds me of these suttas comparing wrong way to view jhana vs right way to view jhana:

"Suppose that an archer or archer's apprentice were to practice on a straw man or mound of clay, so that after a while he would become able to shoot long distances, to fire accurate shots in rapid succession, and to pierce great masses. In the same way, there is the case where a monk... enters & remains in the first jhana: rapture & pleasure born of seclusion, accompanied by directed thought & evaluation. He regards whatever phenomena there that are connected with form, feeling, perception, fabrications, & consciousness, as inconstant, stressful, a disease, a cancer, an arrow, painful, an affliction, alien, a disintegration, an emptiness, not-self. He turns his mind away from those phenomena, and having done so, inclines his mind to the property of deathlessness: 'This is peace, this is exquisite — the resolution of all fabrications; the relinquishment of all acquisitions; the ending of craving; dispassion; cessation; Unbinding.'

So it is clear that to "see" dependent origination, the 5 hindrances have to be subdued and one must be in at least first jhana.

Unlikely. First jhana is not required to see dependent origination. In fact, it is probably very difficult to see dependent origination in the 1st jhana due the predominance of both ekkaggatta & rapture. Neighbourhood concentration is enough to see dependent origination or, otherwise, using the 4th jhana. But what is essentially required is a foundation of empty mind. If the mind does not have a minimum foundation of empty of ego or self, how can it see the arising of "self" in dependent origination? How can it see "birth" unless it has some degree of "non-birth"? To see dependent origination, a contrast of non-arising vs arising is required. Wrong concentration does not provide this contrast. What provides the contrast is unconditioned vs conditioned; non-ego vs ego; non-craving vs craving, etc..

On Buddhist forums, I have noticed "jhana-clingers". It appears obvious these "jhana-clingers" have neither experienced jhana nor dependent origination given: (i) they should have experienced the basics of dependent origination before jhana; and (ii) they cling to jhana, believing the "self" has attained jhana. How can a "jhana-clinger", lost in & beguiled by "rupa-bhava", see dependent origination?

If we are not aware of what "wrong concentration" is, Bhikkhu Buddhadasa, the original modern expert on Dependent Origination, once described it, as follows:

As for samadhi, an empty mind is the supreme samadhi, the supremely focused firmness of mind. The straining and striving sort of samadhi isn't the real thing and the samadhi which aims at anything other than non-clinging to the five khandas is micchasamadhi (wrong or perverted samadhi). You should be aware that there is both micchasamadhi and sammasamadhi (right or correct samadhi). Only the mind that is empty of grasping at and clinging to 'I' and 'mine' can have the true and perfect stability of sammasamadhi. One who has an empty mind has correct samadhi.

Unlikely. While there are many suttas that do not refer to the entire 12 links, the entire 12 can be seen with merely a neighborhood concentration born of non-attachment & abandonment. In the suttas, it seems the Buddha said right mindfulness & right concentration are mature when they have the quality of non-attachment & abandonment. Refer to SN 48.9; SN 48.10 and the final paragraphs of MN 118.

We know also that a stream winner's fruit is seeing dependent origination.

It seems a stream-winner does not have 1st jhana. If stream-winner had 1st jhana, the fetter of sensuality would be cut or otherwise severely reduced. Suttas such as AN 9.34, MN 75 & Dhp 290 say familiarly with the non-sensual pleasure of jhana eradicates desire for coarser sensual pleasure. While Bhikkhu Bodhi seems not an expert on seeing Dependent Origination, he appears expert enough in suttas to make the clear case why a steam-winner has not attained jhana, here: The Jhānas and the Lay Disciple According to the Pāli Suttas.

So knowing his, how does one see dependent origination in Samadhi meditation?

Dependent origination cannot be discerned if one does not even know what it is. For example, if one believes "sankhara" is "volition formations", "consciousness" is "relinking consciousness", "nama-rupa" is "name-form" and "birth" & "death" and even "becoming" are "physical", how can dependent origination be seen in the here & now, apart from some hocus pocus not mentioned in sutta about using special psychic power?

also another tidbit: It seems that only 1 (Kondanna) of the group of 5 attained arahantship upon hearing the 4NT, but the remaining 4 attained arahantship upon hearing the 3 characteristics.

Unlikely. It appears Kondanna did not attain arahantship when hearing the 1st sermon. Kondanna attained stream-entry. The declaration of "all that is subject to arising is subject to cessation" appears to be the stock declaration of a stream-winner in the suttas (eg MN 56). SN 22.59 about the 3 characteristics says at the end there were now five new arahants in the world.

This the Blessed One said. Pleased, the group of five monks were delighted with the exposition of the Blessed One; moreover, as this exposition was being spoken, the minds of the group of five monks were freed of defilements, without attachment.

There are four suttas (MN 52; MN 64; AN 9.36 & AN 11.16) containing this teaching but I personally do not believe them. Personally, I do not believe Arahantship can be attained in the 1st jhana.

There is always an official executioner. If you try to take his place, It is like trying to be a master carpenter and cutting wood. If you try to cut wood like a master carpenter, you will only hurt your hand.

It seems a stream-winner does not have 1st jhana. If stream-winner had 1st jhana, the fetter of sensuality would be cut or otherwise severely reduced. Suttas such as AN 9.34, MN 75 & Dhp 290 say familiarly with the non-sensual pleasure of jhana eradicates desire for coarser sensual pleasure.

Buddha attained 1st jhana under the rose apple tree when he was a child. I agree that an empty mind is required to see DO but also a habitually calmed mind. Also, what is neighborhood concentration?

The usual path is through the jhanas leading to the cessation of consciousness. In the Anupada sutta venerable sariputta ascends the jhanas using vipassana, and so did most of the other arahants. The mind has to be trained to be quick in discernment, abundant in wholesome energy, deep in understanding, and able to penetrate the subtlest of mental movement so when the lights turn back on you fully understand the process in an intuitive way.

Hi J. Neighborhood concentration is a level of clear stable concentration that is not the level of jhana that is mentioned in the Commentaries and also taught by non-Commentary meditation teachers. For example, the Anapanasati Sutta refers to 16 experiences, 14 of which are considered "training" in heightened mind (concentration) and heightened wisdom, which all contain knowing of breathing. Since the suttas do not mention breathing as a factor of jhana, it appears the Anapanasati Sutta describes the "neighborhood concentration" taught by the Commentaries.

The usual path is through the jhanas leading to the cessation of consciousness.

Suttas such as MN 38, MN 148, SN 12.44, SN 22.53, etc, do not refer to a literal 'cessation' of consciousness when dependent origination ceases. If consciousness literally "ceased" in dependent cessation then how could the Buddha have experienced it?

Attachments

There is always an official executioner. If you try to take his place, It is like trying to be a master carpenter and cutting wood. If you try to cut wood like a master carpenter, you will only hurt your hand.

Dependent origination can be "seen" at many levels, some deeper than others.
At some levels you dont need jhana, at some levels you need jhana and eventually you need to go beyond jhanas.

For example, the Buddha probably since he was born was contemplating dependent origination. Then he had the four sights (seeing an old man, seeing sickness, a death body, an ascetic). At that point he could have claimed "i saw some links" (externally), but he kept going... After stumbling with other teachers and going back to his own training, he reflected: "'Aging & death exist when what exists?,'Birth exists when what exists?, "Craving exists when what exists?",etc. At this point you could say his observation was deeper, he was just thinking deeply, but he kept going, even after giving thoughtful observation of all the 12 links . He then re-discovered the 8 fold path (the 8 fold path is the path to the cessation of dependent origination), and started doing meditation. In each jhana he saw deeper how contact, feeling, craving, clinging, etc. arises and passes away. Eventually he attained Abhijñā (the 3 knowledges - one by one -). Seeing his past lives was seeing dependent origination, seeing how beings take rebirth was seeing dependent origination. Then he attained the cessation of perception and feeling, and after coming out is where he saw completely all the 12 links in consecutive order arising, and the 12 links in consecutive order cessating. Only then he claimed complete awakening.

Hi J. Neighborhood concentration is a level of clear stable concentration that is not the level of jhana that is mentioned in the Commentaries and also taught by non-Commentary meditation teachers. For example, the Anapanasati Sutta refers to 16 experiences, 14 of which are considered "training" in heightened mind (concentration) and heightened wisdom, which all contain knowing of breathing. Since the suttas do not mention breathing as a factor of jhana, it appears the Anapanasati Sutta describes the "neighborhood concentration" taught by the Commentaries.

The usual path is through the jhanas leading to the cessation of consciousness.

Suttas such as MN 38, MN 148, SN 12.44, SN 22.53, etc, do not refer to a literal 'cessation' of consciousness when dependent origination ceases. If consciousness literally "ceased" in dependent cessation then how could the Buddha have experienced it?

Ah, so much to learn so little time. Haven't read much of the commentaries yet. The reason you suggest neighborhood concentration and not first jhana to see DO is the lack of overbearing joy, is that so?

Also, maybe nibbana is not experienced in the common way we usually cognize objects as it is not an object. It is likened to an element like space. The voluntary ceasing of consciousness is something like willingly dying and relinking to consciousness with a luminous mind prepared to see what occurs with bright and lucid zeal.

The voluntary ceasing of consciousness is something like willingly dying and relinking to consciousness with a luminous mind prepared to see what occurs with bright and lucid zeal.

The suttas appear to never refer to a "relinking consciousness". Regardless, the "relinking consciousness" taught by later Buddhists appears to be something inherently unwholesome rather than the liberated consciousness described in suttas such as SN 22.53 or the consciousness that cojoins wisdom in MN 43.

My impression is there is no perception there. Refer to MN 43, which appears to compare no perception to a corpse.

There is always an official executioner. If you try to take his place, It is like trying to be a master carpenter and cutting wood. If you try to cut wood like a master carpenter, you will only hurt your hand.

Everything appears "fully realised" by an Arahant. But this topic is about "seeing" rather than "full realisation". SN 12.28 appears to be about the stream-enterer seeing dependent origination:

When, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu thus understands aging-and-death, its origin, its cessation, and the way leading to its cessation; when he thus understands birth … existence … clinging … craving … feeling … contact … the six sense bases … name-and-form … consciousness … volitional formations, their origin, their cessation, and the way leading to their cessation, he is then called a bhikkhu who is accomplished in view, accomplished in vision, who has arrived at this true Dhamma, who sees this true Dhamma, who possesses a trainee’s knowledge, a trainee’s true knowledge, who has entered the stream of the Dhamma, a noble one with penetrative wisdom, one who stands squarely before the door to the Deathless.”

There is always an official executioner. If you try to take his place, It is like trying to be a master carpenter and cutting wood. If you try to cut wood like a master carpenter, you will only hurt your hand.

It is more like how to 'unsee' things that are mistaken to be I. mine or my self or to 'see' in a new way AS ANICCA/DUKKHA/ANATTA and turning towards('seeing') the unconditioned.

"Any kind of consciousness whatever, whether past, future or presently arisen, whether gross or subtle, whether in oneself or external, whether inferior or superior, whether far or near must, with right understanding how it is, be regarded thus: 'This is not mine, this is not I, this is not my self.'

"Bhikkhus, when a noble follower who has heard (the truth) sees thus..

Anattalakhanna Sutta

"Bhikkhus, all is burning. And what is the all that is burning?

"The eye is burning, forms are burning, eye-consciousness is burning, eye-contact is burning, also whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant that arises with eye-contact for its indispensable condition, that too is burning. Burning with what? Burning with the fire of lust, with the fire of hate, with the fire of delusion. I say it is burning with birth, aging and death, with sorrows, with lamentations, with pains, with griefs, with despairs.

"The ear is burning, sounds are burning...

"The nose is burning, odors are burning...

"The tongue is burning, flavors are burning...

"The body is burning, tangibles are burning...

"The mind is burning, ideas are burning, mind-consciousness is burning, mind-contact is burning, also whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant that arises with mind-contact for its indispensable condition, that too is burning. Burning with what? Burning with the fire of lust, with the fire of hate, with the fire of delusion. I say it is burning with birth, aging and death, with sorrows, with lamentations, with pains, with griefs, with despairs.

“Monks, these three are fabricated characteristics of what is fabricated. Which three? Arising is discernable, passing away is discernable, alteration [literally: otherness] while staying is discernable.

“These are three fabricated characteristics of what is fabricated.

“Now these three are unfabricated characteristics of what is unfabricated. Which three? No arising is discernable, no passing away is discernable, no alteration while staying is discernable.

“These are three unfabricated characteristics of what is unfabricated.”

Tracing means 1 second ago,1 day ago,1 lifetime ago ,1 as in ago etc.Except you have to be tracing mentality and materiality not as yourself as a man,woman,child etc.None of that exist in ultimate reality.

Vippasanna takes ultimate reality as it's object not concepts like people,breath,colours etc.In ultimate reality there's only mentality and materiality arising and passing away rapidly and This is a vippasanna object.Your clearly seeing things as they are instead of this delusion that there's a man,woman,child,animal,beings moving around.This is a skewered or distorted point of view we are existing in and take as normal.

For more information on Dependent origination I suggest reading this book.